Good to Great Course: Disciplined Choices for Lasting Business Performance

Programme Summary

Good to Great is the subject of this one-week training course for directors, vice presidents and heads of business units, ending in a good to great action brief for one live business. Many sound organisations plateau because leaders chase initiatives, not disciplined choices. The programme moves from the research behind Jim Collins's findings, through diagnosis of leadership, people and facts, to the design of a focused growth engine, and then to application. Mars Training Centre UK delivers this Good to Great programme for leaders from mixed sectors.

The Business Case

Organisations with steady results often drift into a comfortable middle: strategy is revised each season, key seats are filled in a hurry and bad news reaches the top late. Leaders who confront the facts, choose people before plans and concentrate effort on what the business can do better than others can build momentum that outlasts any single leader or market cycle.

• Leadership Bench Strength: Improves as seats are filled by character and fit before tasks.
• Strategic Focus: Sharpens as initiatives are screened against one economic engine.
• Momentum Consistency: Strengthens as small wins are linked into a repeatable cycle.

Principles and Evidence Base

• Jim Collins's Good to Great research on companies that sustained superior results: It frames Session 1.
• Level 5 leadership, which joins personal humility with professional will: It guides the leader profile in Sessions 1 and 2.
• The Hedgehog Concept of passion, economic engine and what a business can be best at: It structures Session 3.
• The Flywheel and the Doom Loop: They guide the momentum design in Session 4.

Intended Participants

• Directors who answer for results that have held steady but not risen.
• Business unit heads who must choose where to focus scarce effort.
• Heads of function who select and develop the next layer of leaders.
• Strategy and performance leads who sponsor long-term improvement programmes.

Typical participants come from banking, manufacturing, healthcare, logistics and public services.

Learning Outcomes

1. Participants will be able to evaluate the leadership style of their own organisation against Level 5 leadership.
2. Participants will be able to diagnose where seats, facts and discipline hold performance back.
3. Participants will be able to construct a Hedgehog Concept for a business or function.
4. Participants will be able to prioritise initiatives against a single economic engine.
5. Participants will be able to design a flywheel of linked actions and a record of its early turns.
6. Participants will be able to justify a good to great action brief to executive colleagues.

Programme Structure

Day 1: Good to Great Research and Level 5 Leadership

What separated organisations that sustained superior results from those that did not?

• Good to Great Research Overview
• Level 5 Leadership Profile
• Comparison Company Contrast Table
• Personal Leadership Reflection Sheet
• Sustained Results Definition Statement

Day 2: Diagnosing People, Facts and Discipline

Where do seats, information and habits hold the organisation in the middle?

• First Who Then What Seat Review
• Right Seats Gap Scorecard
• Brutal Facts Information Audit
• Stockdale Paradox Discussion Guide
• Culture of Discipline Check

Day 3: Designing Focus with the Hedgehog Concept

What can the business be best at, what drives its economics and what do its people care about?

• Three Circles Mapping Template
• Economic Engine Ratio Test
• Best-at-What Evidence Sheet
• Initiative Screening Matrix
• Technology Accelerator Fit Review

Day 4: Designing Momentum with the Flywheel

How do small, linked wins become a cycle that sustains itself?

• Flywheel Component Map
• Doom Loop Warning Signs List
• Momentum Milestone Plan
• Leadership Cadence Calendar
• Progress Measures Dashboard

Day 5: Applying Good to Great to One Business

Is the action brief ready to take to the executive team?

• Applying the Session 1 Leader Profile to the Chosen Business
• Testing Session 2 Gaps Against Current Data
• Confirming the Session 3 Hedgehog Concept
• Rehearsing the Session 4 Flywheel Defence
• Completing the Good to Great Action Brief

Methodology

The programme uses a case analysis method built on documented company comparisons from several industries and anonymised participant business units. Participants test the research concepts on their own organisations, challenge one another's assessments in small groups, defend their choices to peers who act as board members, and receive facilitator feedback on each work product before it enters the action brief.

• Suggested activity: Rating three recent senior appointments against a Level 5 leadership profile.
• Suggested activity: Drawing the three circles for one business unit and removing initiatives that fall outside them.
• Suggested activity: Tracing five recent wins into a flywheel and naming the missing link.

Capstone Output

Each participant completes a good to great action brief for one live business. It holds a leader and seat review, a facts audit, a Hedgehog Concept, an initiative screen and a flywheel with milestones. The brief is used at work to open a board or executive discussion on focus and to agree the first disciplined choices.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Good to Great suitable for leaders whose organisations already perform well?

Yes. Good to Great is taught at a strategic level and assumes responsibility for a business, unit or function that performs steadily, not a turnaround.

Which research does Good to Great rest on in this programme?

Good to Great here rests on the research of Jim Collins, including Level 5 leadership, the Hedgehog Concept and the Flywheel and the Doom Loop.

How is the action brief from Good to Great used at work?

You use the good to great action brief to open an executive discussion, agree the first disciplined choices and set the measures that show momentum.

How does Good to Great differ from a programme on strategic planning?

Good to Great centres on leadership, people, focus and momentum drawn from research, while strategic planning centres on setting goals and annual plans.